Nagpur: In one of the biggest narcotics crackdowns of the year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a fully functional mephedrone (MD) manufacturing plant concealed deep inside dense vegetation in the remote Karanja (Ghadge) region of Wardha district, barely 70 km from Nagpur.
Acting on pinpoint intelligence under ‘Operation Hinterland Brew’, DRI teams swooped down on the clandestine facility and uncovered a massive haul, 128 kg of high-purity mephedrone, valued at Rs 192 crore, along with 245 kg of precursor chemicals, industrial reactors, condensers, and heavy-duty vessels used for large-scale drug production.
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10 dec 2025
The illicit factory, disguised as a humble tin-roofed shed on farmland, had been strategically placed in the countryside to avoid suspicion. Sources revealed the unit came up only a few months ago, after relentless crackdowns in Nagpur under ‘Operation Thunder’ pushed MD syndicates to shift their operations into neighbouring Wardha’s quieter hinterland.
As Wardha gradually emerged as a major synthetic drug hub, central enforcement agencies intensified surveillance. Intelligence trails from multiple drug consignments traced back to the same cluster, eventually leading DRI teams to the hidden lab.
During the raid, DRI officers arrested the mastermind, a self-taught chemist and financer of the operation, along with two close associates. The mastermind had allegedly bought two plots in the area, built the factory, and personally supervised production. The trio had earlier been spotted in Nagpur while attempting to move consignments, officers said.
Shockingly, Wardha Police had no clue about the sprawling drug factory operating right under their jurisdiction, despite its massive scale and sophisticated setup.
The three accused have now been booked under stringent provisions of the NDPS Act, and DRI is conducting intense interrogation to unravel the supply chain, which is suspected to extend from Maharashtra’s rural belts to major urban drug markets, and possibly beyond India’s borders.
The mammoth seizure marks a crushing blow to organised MD syndicates, which had begun treating Vidarbha’s interiors as a safe haven after sustained enforcement pressure in Nagpur and Mumbai. With this operation, the DRI has now dismantled five synthetic drug manufacturing units across India this year, reinforcing its crackdown on narcotics networks.
